President Trump signed an executive order Saturday directing the Food and Drug Administration to expedite its review of psychedelic drugs for treating depression, PTSD, anxiety, and addiction, the first time the federal government has moved to fast-track any psychedelics through the approval pipeline. The order also steers $50 million in federal funds toward making the treatments more accessible, with a particular focus on veterans.
Trump held up the signed order in the Oval Office, flanked by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, podcast host Joe Rogan, and former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell. The room was stacked with people who had either championed psychedelic therapy or benefited from it firsthand.
The executive order targets drugs such as psilocybin, ibogaine, LSD, and MDMA, all currently classified as Schedule I substances, which the Drug Enforcement Administration defines as having "no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse." Trump said the order would expedite the reclassification of those drugs and that he expects the FDA to approve them quickly. NPR reported that FDA Commissioner Mary Makary said national priority vouchers, set to be issued next week for three psychedelics, will allow the review to move forward in a matter of weeks rather than the usual bureaucratic crawl.
This is a concrete step toward solving a crisis that Washington has spent decades talking about and doing very little to fix. More than 14 million American adults suffer from a serious mental illness, and roughly 8 million are on prescription medication for those conditions, the order states. The National Institute of Mental Health puts the number of adults who have experienced at least one major depressive episode at 21 million. Around one in 10 Americans have been diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder.
The policy push was framed largely around the men and women who served. The Department of Veterans Affairs is now participating in at least five clinical trials of psychedelic drugs in New York, California, and Oregon. And the personal testimony in the room made the case more forcefully than any white paper could.
Luttrell, the former Navy SEAL whose memoir about a deadly mission in Afghanistan became the film Lone Survivor, stood behind the president and told him directly what the drugs had done for him.
Luttrell told Trump:
"You're going to save a lot of lives through it. It absolutely changed my life for the better."
Trump cited a 2024 Stanford study in which 30 special operations veterans reportedly saw an 80 to 90 percent reduction in depression and anxiety symptoms within one month, according to the Washington Examiner. That kind of result, if it holds under broader clinical scrutiny, would represent a dramatic improvement over the conventional pharmaceutical treatments that have left millions of patients cycling through prescriptions with limited relief.
Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins framed the order as part of a broader strategy. "We need an all-of-the-above strategy when it comes to tackling mental health, and your EO opens up new possibilities for America's Veterans," Collins said.
Jay Kopelman, a veteran advocate, put it more bluntly:
"The president's action today opens a pathway to research that will further open doors to expedited approval of this life-saving medicine as a treatment for our veterans, and society, who have suffered for decades from treatment-resistant PTSD, TBI (traumatic brain injury) and depression."
The administration has been making a series of consequential policy moves in recent weeks, and this one stands out for its potential to cut across traditional political lines.
The executive order does several things at once. It directs the FDA to speed its review of psychedelic drugs already designated as breakthrough therapies. It commits $50 million specifically to ibogaine research and creates a pathway for ibogaine to be administered to seriously ill patients under the right-to-try law. And it orders the reduction of bureaucratic barriers and improved data sharing between the FDA and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Trump laid out the rationale in plain terms. "Today's order will ensure that people suffering from debilitating symptoms might finally have a chance to reclaim their lives and lead a happier life," he said. He added that the directive will help "dramatically accelerate" access to research and treatments on psychedelic drugs.
The FDA is set to issue national priority vouchers for three psychedelics, and is also taking steps to enable the first-ever human trials of ibogaine in the United States, Newsmax reported. Ibogaine, a derivative of the West African iboga plant, has drawn particular interest for its reported effects on opioid addiction and traumatic brain injury, though it also carries known cardiotoxicity risks that will require careful clinical oversight.
The signing comes during a week of major presidential actions. Trump also declared that Iran had accepted all U.S. terms in a separate foreign policy development, underscoring the pace of executive decision-making from the White House.
The science behind psychedelic therapy is not new. Scientists reported potential advances in using these drugs to treat addiction and other psychiatric conditions as far back as the 1950s. Government research ended in the 1960s when recreational use became popular, and the substances were swept into Schedule I classification, where they have remained, largely untouched by the federal regulatory apparatus, for more than half a century.
That decades-long freeze persisted even as the evidence kept accumulating. A 2025 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that a single dose of LSD could ease anxiety and depression for months. And yet the FDA rejected approval for MDMA to treat PTSD as recently as 2024.
The gap between what researchers were finding and what regulators were willing to approve had become a case study in institutional inertia. Millions of Americans, veterans, first responders, and ordinary citizens, were left managing their conditions with the same limited toolkit while promising alternatives sat locked behind scheduling classifications written before most of them were born.
Trump's order does not bypass the clinical trial process. Medical experts and veteran advocates have stressed that psychedelics must be used in controlled clinical settings and still must go through standard regulatory review, as Fox News reported. Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst, agreed that psychedelics hold "big potential" for severe depression and PTSD. The order accelerates the timeline. It does not eliminate the safeguards.
Joe Rogan, who has long discussed psychedelic therapy on his podcast, stood behind Trump during the signing. Rogan said he had texted Trump about ibogaine. The president's response, as Rogan recounted it: "Sounds great. Do you want FDA approval? Let's do it."
Trump, for his part, drew a laugh from the room. "Can I have some, please?" he joked after the signing.
The lighthearted moment should not obscure the seriousness of the policy. The administration has been willing to signal openness on controversial subjects where the evidence and the public interest align, and the psychedelic order fits that pattern. Former Texas Governor Rick Perry was also among those who backed the push, according to Newsmax.
The order raises questions that will need answering in the weeks ahead. Which three psychedelics will receive the national priority vouchers? Which federal agency will administer the $50 million in research funds? How quickly will the reclassification process actually move, given the layers of regulatory and legal review involved?
The administration has also filed plans for a 250-foot Independence Arch near Arlington National Cemetery, another high-profile action that signals the White House's appetite for bold moves that cut through institutional caution.
On the psychedelic front, the test will be execution. An executive order sets direction. The FDA, the VA, and the research community now have to deliver results, on a timeline that matches the urgency of the crisis they are supposed to be addressing.
For decades, Washington treated the mental health crisis like a talking point and treated the most promising treatments like contraband. Trump just told the bureaucracy to get out of the way. Whether it actually moves remains the only question that matters.